Resources

StudentsAbroad.com

In this section, you will learn how to cope with reverse culture shock you may experience upon return to the United States. One of the biggest challenges for students who participate in study abroad can be the difficulty in re–adapting to the realities in the United States (otherwise known as "re–entry"). Many students who studied abroad in the country of your choice went through many changes, re–examining their priorities, their values, and what they think of themselves and the United States. The "reverse culture shock" may be more difficult than the "culture shock" you felt when in the country of your choice. If return culture shock is severe, it is important that students are able to seek help/counseling to help them through this.

Expatica.com

​Moving home isn't always easy – many who repatriate feel different and utterly out of touch. This article explains what happens when culture shock is reversed, what to expect, and how to cope with its effects.

Expatexchange.com

​The term "culture shock" is by now widely known and loosely applied to many different types of interactions and emotional states, but there are still a lot of misconceptions, even among experienced world travelers and long-time expats. Here we look at ten common myths about the cross-cultural adjustment process and try to sort out hard fact from lazy fiction.

​"Understanding the cultures of those we serve requires more than words and good intentions. The journey toward cultural competence requires the willingness to learn from ones experiences and act." - Jerome Hanley

Welcome Home! Returning from an overseas placement can be a very challenging experience with highs and lows. This does not happen to every volunteer but can be very common, particularly in those returning home from a developing country for the first time.Many returnees return home full of inspiration and motivation to stay involved in global development issues. Depending on the circumstances they are returning to, it can be a struggle to find ways to get involved and to put to use their energy and enthusiasm. Comhlámh offers a range of support services to cater to volunteers and development workers on their return. Our services respond to the needs that returnees have identified for themselves. Among the services we offer are debriefing, counselling, career guidance, PRSI and Pensions support and our Coming Home Weekends.

This manual gives guidelines for those who offer debriefing to people who work overseas (usually in less developed countries) as relief workers, development workers, volunteers, missionaries, peace-keepers or in similar positions. The term ‘aid workers’ is used here to refer to all such workers. Most aid workers report that, on the whole, their time overseas was a good experience, and they are glad they went. Despite this, most aid workers who work overseas for at least six months (as well as many of those who have shorter trips overseas) report that they find it helpful to receive a personal debriefing session on their return home. This is especially true of those who have had stressful experiences overseas, and those who find it difficult to readjust to their own culture after returning home. Personal debriefing sessions generally last approximately two hours, and can have an extremely beneficial effect.

The Comhlámh Code of Good Practice (CoGP) for Volunteer Sending Agencies is a set of standards for organisations involved in facilitating international volunteer placements in developing countries. The focus is to ensure overseas volunteering has a positive impact for the three main stakeholders: the local project and community, the volunteer and the sending agency.​

Have you, your family or friends had any major changes in your work or personal life in the past year? Or do you plan and manage changes for your staff and organisation? If so you are likely to be well aware of the hazards and opportunities of coping with change and the process psychologists call transition, although you may not know it by this name.Transitions affect us all, up to 10-20 times in our lifetime after major life-events. Coping with change has been a fundamental survival issue for millennia. So human beings have evolved a remarkable mechanism for adapting to trauma and changes. Small changes can be overcome by learning. Larger changes may challenge our identity and involve letting go of deeply held hopes or beliefs.Transitions enable us to make fundamental changes to how we see the world and respond creatively to our new reality, good or bad. They happen spontaneously. But because they take 6-12 months or more to work through most people are unaware of the process.Transitions offer crucial opportunities for personal and career development – the human equivalent of animals that have to shed their skins to grow. But they also involve a hazardous phase that can go wrong. The transition process offers a template for understanding the stages of personal change. We cannot avoid this process but we can learn how to make the best of it for our work and personal life..

​Established in 2000, SALTO-YOUTH is a network of eight Resource Centres working on European priority areas within the youth field. As part of the European Commission's Training Strategy, SALTO-YOUTH provides non-formal learning resources for youth workers and youth leaders and organises training and contact-making activities to support organisations and National Agencies within the frame of the European Commission's Erasmus+ : Youth in Action programme and beyond.

‘I (am) like you!’ is a game that came about after a study trip by some instructors from Jeugddienst (Youth Services) Don Bosco vzw to a European metropolis and focuses on conflict managementand resolution. Our multicultural society sometimes leads to conflicts between groups - conflicts that originate and are maintained by people who pay more attention to what distinguishes groups from each other, rather than the similarities between them.

Compass was first published in 2002 within the framework of the Human Rights Education Youth Programme of the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe. The programme was created because human rights education – meaning educational programmes and activities that focus on promoting equality in human dignity – was and remains of incalculable value in shaping a dimension of democratic citizenship for all young people and in promoting a culture of universal human rights. Compass has become a reference manual for many young people involved in value-based youth work and non-formal education. It is currently available in more than 30 languages, ranging from Arabic and Japanese to Icelandic and Basque. In some countries it has become part of the resources for human rights education in schools and in some others it is not possible to use it in schools. The adventures of Compass across Europe often mirror the contrasted reality of human rights education: promoted here and combated there, praised by some and despised by others.

Unfortunately there are not many resource materials available for youth workers to deal with this issue. Don Bosco Youth-Net has experience of implementing safeguarding in its activities. Through this publication we want to share this good practice with other youth work organizations, by offering a tool to support the development of safeguarding in their organizations and to create awareness on the topic of safeguarding in working with children and young people. The book exists of three parts: In the first part we research the ethical foundations of safeguarding in working with youth. The second compares the human rights with the Preventive System of Don Bosco and gives impulses for safeguarding in youth work praxis. The third part offers some practical input on how to deal with safeguarding in youth work organizations.

​Resource Blog

​In this resource blog you will find different categories. The category games gives an overview of documents that can be an inspiration for game playing in practice. Manuals are instruction books. In youth work this often refers to documents indicating a code of good practice , how to deal with certain situations, how to create your own project,... In the category portfolio you will find documents and articles used to create the workbook "VALUE"

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The international secretariat of Don Bosco Youth-Net ivzw is financially supported by the European Union, through its ‘Erasmus+ Youth in Action’-programme, and by the Council of Europe, through its 'European Youth Foundation'. ﻿This publication reflects the views only of the author, and neither the Commission nor the Council of Europe can be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.